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How much does the Huawei P9 cost? You can purchase it for around Rs.23,000 island-wide. When it was first released, it was more expensive.
Some people might not like owning a mobile from 2016. Personally, I would be apprehensive about this. Mainly because newer phones look very different compared to older ones.
The handset is small. Its screen stretches 5.2 inches across. Mobiles these days have screens that are 6 inches or over. There is some serious bezel action going on too.
It was made from aluminum. The metal build makes it feel premium. However, you can easily drop it if you’re clumsy; aluminum doesn’t provide a lot of grip.
What are its dimensions? It stretches 145 mm x 70.9 mm x 7 mm across. Being so thin, it feels expensive.
We would’ve loved if it came with some weight. You’re looking at a 144-gram device. The more weight a phone has, the better built it feels.
Looking across its sides, you’ll find a microSD slot. To expand its storage, a microSD card would have to be purchased. You’re not getting one out of the box.
It comes with a 3.5 mm headphone jack as well.
Now:
What colours can you pick it up in? Quite a few. Huawei lets you pick the P9 up in Ceramic White, Haze Gold, Rose Gold, Titanium Grey, Mystic Silver, Prestige Gold, Red, and Blue. I’m a fan of the Rose Gold – it looks the richest.
Let’s talk about its display. As it’s only 5.2 inches, immersing in videos would be hard. The manufacturer placed an IPS NEO LCD panel. It doesn’t produce the most vibrant colours. However, there would be deeper blacks than in regular IPS LCDs.
There’s some serious bezel action going on, as its screen-to-body ratio is 72.9%. There is also a tactile home button.
Here’s the deal:
It doesn’t have the best screen-to-body ratio. But the edges of its screen are quite flush, like in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. This makes up for the large bezels on the top and bottom.
Considering how small its display is, its screen resolution is excellent. It is 1080 x 1920 pixels. You won’t notice any blurriness even if you look closely.
The device has Gorilla Glass 3 on its front. It can handle a lot of scruffs.
Being so old, it’s no surprise that it runs a dated version of Android out of the box. You’ll be met with Android 6. Thankfully, you can upgrade its systems to Android 7. However, upgrades to the latest Android 10 or 11 won’t be possible. This is a shame, as there have been several security optimizations between the three versions.
The OS is available through EMUI. It is Huawei’s proprietary UI. It’s pretty customizable.
As the P9 is a former high-end device, Huawei placed a processor that was powerful at the time. It is the Kirin 955 which is not impressive by today’s standards. Here’s a look at how it performs against the newer Kirin 980.
The RAM and ROM it comes with makes moving through its systems faster. You can pick it up with 3 or 4 GB of RAM. With the 4 GB variant, its systems would be the snappiest. That being said, it’s the more expensive choice of the two.
Whether you purchase the 3 or 4 GB option, apps force-closing won’t be issues.
ROM-wise, how does it do? You’ll be picking it up with 32 or 64 GB of space. If you remember, it comes with a microSD slot.
As it’s so thin, it doesn’t have a large battery. The unit inside is 3,000 mAh. Expect it to fully drain in around a day.
To charge the P9, you’ll be inserting an 18 W fast charger into its USB-C port. It takes a little over half an hour to reach 50% charge.
No, it doesn’t come with reverse or wireless charging. Its battery isn’t removable either.
Huawei isn’t a company that’s known for its cameras. A lot of the time, they are hits or misses. I’m not a fan of the dual set-up on the P9. It consists of a primary 12 MP wide lens along with a secondary 12 MP wide lens. The shots taken won’t be colour accurate, especially in low light.
In dim settings, you’ll appreciate its bright dual LED flash. It’s unfortunate that you’re not getting an LED sensor with its selfie camera.
Speaking of its selfie camera, it is a single 8 MP shooter. Will it leave you Instagram ready? Definitely not.
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